Skylark

Sunday, October 6, 2013

I have happened to find myself with a spare 2 1/2 hours, as I am travelling back from my nephew's 1st Birthday party. I work 6 days a week, and the opportunities for leisure time to blog are few and far between. But, here I am, on Amtrack.

First off, I am sure many people out there think they have adorable babies in their families. I am sure you're correct, but I am sorry to tell you that my nephew Jack is THE CUTEST BABY EVER. I have proof:

So, I have a lot of updating to do, but the thing I feel like I have been working on forever, and is closest to completion, is the fireplace. It's a big focal point, and no way in hell I was leaving it remotely like it was...

This is what the Fireplace looked like when I did the initial walk through and made the offer on the house. Prettttttyyyy.

I have made some improvements, albeit slowly, and have just a little left to do with this project. I still need to stain the trim and finish the edges up, do some woodgrain faux painting so that the trim blends in with the mantel.

However, even "almost finished" it is no longer so completely hideous to look at. And the cats can't climb around in there and track around sooty kitten footprints. The glass looks cool, the gas had been capped off previously and I am not hooking it back up, so it's purely decorative, and I may even put some comfy pillows in there and turn it into The Best Kitten bed Ever.

The stone will also be used in the kitchen, on 2 walls as the backsplash. I am carrying the gray throughout for the most part.

I am planning to do poured concrete countertops, but getting a hold of someone to actually do that is turning out to be more difficult than I anticipated. I got in touch with someone a customer referred to me, and his stuff has all kinds of cool seaglass, rocks, etc mixed in, you can even place a sentimental trinket in the concrete...but he did the outdoor bar surfaces at the Hotel Del Coronado...needless to say, he is out of my budget. I have a contact locally, but he's really a concrete finisher, I am unsure if he wants to do all that is involved in this project. I found forms online that create the shape and can give a decorative edge rather than just square, but it's still a big job. I asked my Uncle about it but he is also proving to be difficult to pin down. It'll happen...better be before Thanksgiving! I am hosting!

The Mantel was my friend Joe's idea, I used extra planks of the flooring to make the box for the mantel. The edges (it's a commercial grade laminate, so it has the tongue and groove) are not straight, so I had to decide if I wanted to cut and miter those, or cover them...Ideally it would have been a long mitered 45 degree cut joining pieces. I do not have that kind of saw, I don't have access to one, I tried to hire a handyman to do finish work and if you haven't noticed, here I am still doing everything myself. So, I decided to use L Trim to cover the unfinished edges. The Mantel is the floorboards, joined on the inside using Flat Brackets and L Brackets. On top of the old brick, I glued down with Heavy Duty Silicone Glue a piece of plywood (I tried to toggle it in to the bricks using masonry toggles and a drill but it stripped out and came right off, so glue was the best option) and then the mantel will be glued to the Plywood. There is nothing straight in my whole house, so I have to basically rig everything in some fashion to make it work, the fireplace included.

The fireplace has aqua and gray glass chunks in the base now, I spraypainted the log holder silver, and painted the inside of the whole thing the same gray color as my walls. I have the gray stain, the light brown paints so I can do my thing and make the trim blend in with the planks. Now, let me carve out some spare time for that.....LOL.

It looks like it will be the Taj Mahal of Kitten Beds if that's what I do with it. We'll see.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

I got my new bedroom rug from overstock.com yesterday! The bedroom is really taking shape. That back wall looks purple sometimes though, sometimes it looks kind of brown. I was going for a dark, warm grey. Might have to repaint. Everyone that sees it in person says "Oh, dark plum!" "I like the Eggplant color!" "I didn't know you were going with purple!" Not what I wanted. At least it's only paint, and can be easily changed. I like the color, but wasn't trying to go with purple. Ugh.

I've got a working kitchen again! No countertops yet, just plywood, but I had him put the sink in so I can function like a normal person again, and all the new appliances are installed. Here's some before and afters, ca't wait for the final "after"...complete with one dark charcoal grey wall with a big shutter on it, poured concrete countertops, tiled backsplash and all my stuff!

Here's what there was....Home Made cabinets, the interiors were all different, some plywood, some MDF, and some sweet 70's shelf paper. Wood Grain Pattern Formica, and everything was filthy. They cleaned it up for the sale of the house, but you can't get 30 years of grime off all the way.

Here I have some pics of the Demolition....the lace curtains are still intact in this picture! There was a mouse nest under one of the cabinets, and 3 petrified mice. Yuck.

Behind the cabinets by the stove, they had paneled over drywall, with a dark brown "wood" paneling, and then over that, they later put faux tile paneling. Like a sheet of "tile" shapes. Luckily, it peeled of pretty easily.

Below, I have the new white cabinets in place, took down the lace curtains and put up my temporary paper shades, those will stay til the shutter comes in. The pretty florescent light is still there, but not for long! I can't stand to look at it, need to re-texture the ceiling and put in some can lights next.

I unpacked several kitchen boxes, trying to figure out where I want things to go. I don't think I can keep Andy in the kitchen drawer too long, so I will have to find a new spot for him, hahaha.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

I got my delivery of the kitchen cabinets last week, and the fur babies are loving the lounge space. I am not changing the footprint of the kitchen, just the cabinet configuration. And adding a Dishwasher. What the.....? No Dishwasher? Ugh. My days of hand washing are over after leaving The Most Expensive Ocean View Cat Hotel Ever (my old apartment, 1920's, ocean views, but no amenities). And, I just got confirmation from my contractor that he's going to install on Thurs/Fri. Makes room in the living room for furniture! And I have a delivery coming...no sofa yet though. I can't buy that online...I don't want to regret the purchase, it needs to look awesome and feel comfy, so I need to pick out in person. You know, with all my free time. I also need to get a mattress, because my bed is supposed to arrive on Thurs or Fri. And my new dining chairs! And my new grey/white chevron pattern chairs! It's all coming together.........

Thursday, July 4, 2013

I am on my way to a newly remodeled fireplace! The old brass and brick will be gone, baby, gone! I took out the brass enclosure earlier today. Yuck. Thankfully, the kittens were super intrigued and had to go inside the fireplace, and track a few sooty paw prints on the now floors. Yay for Laminate! Easy to care for. Here is the Before and During...I was going to tackle this today, but as it turns out, I DON"T know how to do everything myself....seemed like a bad idea to try and YouTube "how to use a tile saw"...so I guess I have to depend on Vince to help with this project. I hate having to depend on a dude. So unreliable...in comparison to relying on myself. Well, it is what it is.

The flooring is done! I have this everywhere except the 2 bathrooms. LOVE IT!!! The only speed bump I hit was yesterday...when I came home in the middle of the day, randomly, to get a power cord for my laptop that I left at home. Vince was also randomly there, because I had my U-Verse appointment yesterday as well, and the guy didn't get my service hooked up. Too bad I couldn't just ask for my favorite AT&T guy to do the job......anyways....he stopped by to check out the issue. I pulled up and he told me it looked like I had a lot of extra flooring....and that it looked like the guys were loading it in the back of their truck!

I went over and....whoop there it is. 8 boxes of my flooring. Wrapped in a tarp, and tied up, in the back of the truck. I uncovered it, took a picture, sent it to my contractor that hired these guys, and then grabbed a box and started to take it inside. One of the guys saw me and I confronted him, there was a language barrier, but I am pretty sure he knew what I was saying....the guy in charge acted all surprised...whatever. Anyway, I got it all back and will return it (less the re-stocking fee, B.S.)

They did do a good job though. On top of it, there was confusion as to if I was writing the check to this guy, or the contractor, last thing he did for me I paid the guy direct, yada yada yada...I wrote a sizable check and then the contractor finally returned my call....no, I was not supposed to give that guy the money.....

Had to do a stop payment on the check, write another (for less thankfully because the install was less sq. ft.proven by the leftover materials that they tried to steal), and while doing that, the flooring guy finally calls the contractor back (after several calls sent to voicemail)...yeah he's at the bank and trying to cash my check and the bank won't do it...tried to steal my money! Drama....but my floors are done. Ugh.

The walls are also painted! I have the bulk of the house in a dove grey color, the office is a pea soup green, guest is aqua, accent walls in the kitchen/dining/master of charcoal grey. I have a lot of coral/aqua/green/white/black accessories, I can't wait to see it come together!